Consistency is key

I'm going to try to get in the habit of blogging more say....once a week thru the duration of 2011. So much has changed and happened since we left Seattle that most of our friends probably don't even know where we live. We moved to Oklahoma City in November 2009 after Dell closed their callcenter in Twin Falls, ID. I was transferred with the company down here and have since been working as a technician in a similar position. Beth worked for a few months with a printer refurbishing company in downtown OKC, and then moved to Dell to work with me for about 3 - 4 months before the baby came along. She resigned her position and went to be a stay at home mom. Praise God we are able to afford letting her do that because the morning sickness has been far worse this pregnancy than with Aimee. Also, she is technically 22 weeks along and we've been told I shouldn't be able to feel Timothy kicking but man he's like a soccer player. He is constantly moving and unfortunately only sleeps during the evening. All the rest of the time, Beth says it's like he's on a treadmill. Hopefully he slows down a little so she can start getting more consistent sleep. She has been filling her time with sewing and scrapbooking projects. They just built a Hobby Lobby about 5 minutes away from us which should fill her time nicely. As for me, I've been working on technical certifications since last December and been working my way toward higher level certs. I head to Round Rock, TX in 2 weeks for the RHCE (Redhat Certified Engineer) bootcamp which will be 2 full weeks of studying linux. It will be challenging but looking forward to it.

I think that's all for now, hopefully I can get Beth back into the habit of writing online as well since she does a much better job of it.

New Baby on the way

So just in case you're not on my Facebook page and still following this blog (it's been a year and a half since the last post), Beth is pregnant again and due in June. This time around it's a boy, we are naming him Timothy William Heinemann. All the ultrasounds so far indicate he's a very healthy little man, kicks mom constantly and will suffer none of the same health problems that Aimee had. Miss all our family in Seattle one day hope to make it back that direction.

Love you all,

Lynn and Beth

March 2009

Time sure flies by doesn't it. Beth and I have settled into our routine here in Idaho and every day things feel more and more normal. Its a little strange sometimes living in the house you grew up in but its a journey and this is just the next step. I am set to get out of the Army in October (it's been 3 yrs already?!) and am considering continuing in the Air Force Guard. There is also a chance I will get stoplossed in Oct for deployment so it will come down to days to see if I am let go or I get to go. If I end up deploying Beth is considering heading back to school while I am away but either way we are both getting prepared to start school again in the fall. Beth and I are still working at Dell and everything seems to be working ok. Well, my schedule got changed to 5 AM to 2 PM so we both wake up now at 3:45 in the morning for work. It means no traffic to fight but no social life either. In fact I slept in this sunny Saturday morning a whole 4.5 hours and still got up at 8:30. There is something wrong with that. I am still flying back to Seattle once a month for drill with the 168th and while its a tad expensive and time consuming I love being back there. Those guys feel like family and even though I don't want to go, I can easily imagine spending 9 months overseas with them.
On another thought, April 20th is coming up and it hit us like a hammer the other day. Personally I was a little shocked to find the pain of losing Aimee has not decreased it just doesnt come to find as often. There are more happy memories than sad ones but it still hurts just as much. We have decided to wait a couple years before starting a family again maybe once we finish school.
I hope you all are doing well. Times are tough but its times like this when you realize what is most important. Things aren't easy but we are enjoying being able to sit down together and eat dinner or read a book as a couple again. God Bless and I hope you enjoy this beautiful spring weather.

-Lynn

Happy New Year!!

Hello everyone. It's been a long time since we have posted Beth and I have been working like crazy to keep up with life in the past couple of months but it was a little annoying to log back in here and see my last post was before the election. It's been long enough. We are really trying to find the time to post more and more. We had a good Christmas since the entire Heinemann clan came to Twin Falls for the holidays and Beth's entire family came so there was a ton of people going everywhere. I am not excited about going back to work next week but at least things will quiet back down. I'd have to say this was the best Christmas that we've had as a married couple and having so much family around is such a blessing. Hope yours was just as good. Christmas for the two of us will always be marked with a touch of sadness because Christmas Day 2007 is when we brought Aimee home from the hospital after her surgery. Beth's parents have pictures of her everywhere, my family not only has pictures but every cellphone in the house has a picture of her as a background screen so we see her everywhere and are reminded of her constantly. It's starting to feel like a dull ache instead of a constant pain like the feeling you get when you've had the flu and wake up the next day feeling a little better. Like you know you're going to make it but you feel stiff and sore from the illness. Now it's the land mines we have to worry about. Once in a while we will be cleaning something and a picture will fall out of a book or I'll run into a little video of her I didn't know I had. Anyone who has lost someone close can relate how months and years later you think you're mostly over it but a particular vivid memory of them can bring the pain back as fresh and as real as the day it happened. Anyway.....

I am curious to see who still reads our blogs considering that its been forever since we wrote a post. Email me at lynn.heinemann@gmail.com I would love to see who pops back on here once in a while.

Have a great New Year!

Oct 29 Update

First my commercial
GO VOTE!!!! PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO GET THAT DONE NEXT WEEK!!

Moving on........
It has been so long since we last posted. We have been so busy getting our lives under control since moving that we quite forgot to keep up with this. I started working at Dell back in August when we first moved but Beth also got a job there working in the Customer Service department. We both have the exact same schedule there so we wake up together, make breakfast together, go to work and spend the entire day together and then come home. It's honestly very nice. I am still working with server tech support and staying very busy with that. I have been traveling back to Seattle once a month for drill with my unit at Ft. Lewis and while it's somewhat tiresome, I still sometimes get to see friends and family when I am back. Beth and I watched a movie last night that was filmed in Seattle and just seeing the ferry boats and skyline made us so homesick we could hardly take it. If we didn't know we had a plan and a purpose here we would have probably packed our bags then and there and come back.
We miss City Church so bad. We miss our family and friends terribly. The heartache and longing to be home is palpable but we can see this is a necessary step to coming back and setting up a family there sometime in the foreseeable future. God willing I am going to be able to go back to school here in January and continue getting my degree. Be praying for Beth because she is very close to making a decision on a major and finishing her school as well. We are volunteering in our church here for right now. Beth is teaching in Sunday school and I am finishing the paperwork to work the check-in table for nursery and classes. I was shocked at how much paperwork and background checking you have to go through now because you are working with children but I understand it's a good thing. Just too bad we have to worry about those things in our church now.
Beth and I both got a year older back in September and for her birthday I surprised her by coming back to Seattle and taking her to see Phantom of the Opera at the Paramount Theatre on the day of her birthday. It's something that I have always wanted to do and finally was able to. I always had planned to take her to the one in New York but this seemed a good chance to before it goes the way of Cats and gets shut down.

Thats the dome in the opera house by the way

Be praying for us because my unit is starting to gear up for a deployment somewhere down the road. For security I cannot say where or when on the internet but its close enough to make us start planning should I eventually have to go. We will see what happens but be praying that God's will is done in this and we would be able to handle whatever comes. I am not that worried about it and simply hope to one day have a stable life and settle down with my wife not wondering if I get to go play in the Sandbox for a few months. I will have Beth post on here in the next few days as well cause she writes better than I and I know some of you are dying to hear how she is doing.

Snow in early October is Awesome!!

Have a great weekend (Yes I know its Wednesday)
and see you later
~Lynn

Well since we have moved to Idaho things have been moving right along. I am NOT going overseas (they finally reversed that paperwork), I have been working at Dell for 3 weeks, Beth is finishing the hiring process at a couple places seeing what she wants to do and we are still unpacking boxes. I hate moving. Just when you think you can't take another box, it pokes out from under the table and glares at you. Maybe by the time we are ready to move back to Seattle we will feel like we are really done.
Beth has heard from her friends in Seattle and if I am not mistaken the number currently stands at 8 that are expecting within the last month or so. We keep looking at each other wondering if we got out of Seattle in time or if it followed us here. We really want a family but not for a while. There must be something in the water because in the past week I think I have heard of 2 or 3 more. Congratulations to those who have a new little loved one coming into their family. We cannot wait to be back in the Puget Sound with our friends and family there.
Last week I had a little excitement. Beth and I went swimming with friends down in the Snake River Canyon and for fun, I and two other friends jumped off a cliff once each. It was a small cliff only 20-25 ft but having never done this before I didn't do it right and ruptured my left eardrum. 3 or 4 hours later the pain in my ear was so intense I went to the ER and they confirmed it was ruptured and gave me hydrocodone for pain and medicated eardrops. I took the pain pills right before going to bed and apparently I am allergic to them. I woke up with a swollen head and sicker than a dog. Not only did I not go to work Thursday, Beth practically scraped me off the floor around 11AM and took me back to ER. I spent the afternoon with an IV in my arm getting re-hydrated and with Benadryl trying to cancel out the reaction. Took a few days to get totally back to normal but as I told Beth, the primary benefit I see from this is I only have to listen to her half the time now. Actually, I would have been in very bad shape if she hadn't taken care of me.

I know I know its been a long time since we have updated but there is good reason for that. 1) We are moving to Idaho in a week and packing for that has been crazy, 2) I have been on active orders for my "Two weeks a year" with my Army National Guard unit, and 3) they have been trying to actually deploy me in the last couple of weeks and we have been praying over that and trying to come to terms with it.
I can't say who or when or what but I was selected to deploy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the near future with a unit other than my own. This came as a huge shock because it would be very dangerous and there was little forewarning. My commander in my unit feels concerned that our trials with Aimee would cause me such mental and emotional strain that I would not be able to do my job there correctly. They have been trying to work it out and get me off the list for deployment but there are a huge amount of checks and balances they have to hurdle and I have no direct control over the situation. It is very frustrating as you can imagine watching this process and knowing your life is in some other persons hands. The news and updates we hear from my chain of command are hopeful and we continue to pray this will be reversed. Please pray specifically that my deployment orders are rescinded or reversed. I have no fear in deploying. I signed up for this and will fulfill my duty as a soldier. However, this comes so closely on the heels of our family tragedy (I got the alert call the same week we picked up Aimee's ashes from the funeral home) I am fighting panic and fear at every turn. I fully intend to go with my unit when and if they deploy but I don't think now is the best time.
On a lighter note, I finally got to fly for the first time with my unit last week. For those that don't know, I work in maintenance on Army helicopters and I am absolutely nuts about aircraft and flying. The crew chief gave me a harness and headset so I was jacked in with the pilots as they communicated with air traffic control. The two of us sat on the cargo ramp of the chopper and dangled our legs over the end while we were flying at about 5,000 ft. The pictures I've posted were taken with a camera phone so they are not great but they give you an idea.
Please feel free to email us or call for our new address in Idaho. Would love to stay in touch with you all and hope our move back to Seattle is soon.
-Lynn